Amplifying circuit comprising a plurality of transistors



Dec. 16, 1958 A. J. W. M. VAN OVERBEEK AMPLIFYING CIRCUIT COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF TRANSISTORS Filed April 8, 1954 ADRIANUS JOHANNES WILHELMS MARIE VAN OVERBEEK AGENT Untd s Pateft AMPLIFYING CIRCUIT COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF TRANSISTORS Adrianus Johannes Wilhelmus Marie van Overbeek, Eindhoven, Netherlands, assignor, by mesne assign ments, to North American Philins Comoany Inc. New

York, N. Y a corporation of Delaware Application April 8, 1954, Serial N o. 421,931 Claims priority, application Netherlands April 29, 1953 s Claims. 01. 119-171 trode and its output circuit being constituted by the circuit between the said terminal and the collector electrode. A circuitarrangement of the kind specfied above is described, for example, by Ryder and Kircher in B. S. T. 1.,

July 1949, pages 367 to 400. As appears from page 384 in the last paragraph but one of the said article, the amplification per stage as determined by the value 0 is relatively 10W. A circuit of the type described normally produces a current amplification per stage oc, where 06 is defined as the relationship between the variation in the current flowing to the collector electrode of the transistor and the variation in the current flowing to the emitter electrode at unvaried voltages at these electrodes.

The invention provides means which permit of obtaining, for example, 2 to 3 times higher current amplfication per transistor stage. It is characterized in that for the purpose of increasing the amplification factor a parallel impedance r is inclued between the coupling lead connecting the collector electrode of one transistor to the emitter electrode of the subsequent transistor of the cascade and the coupling leacl between the base electrodes of the said transistors, which parallel impedarice satisfies the equations and r smaller than /5 r wherein K is a constant greater than 1.2 and less than 3, a=the current-amplification factor, r =the total base impedance, r =the total emitter mpedance and r,=the transmissionimpedance of the transistors.

In order that the invention may be readily carried into etect, it will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, given by way of example, in which Fig. 1 shows one embodiment of the invention and Fig. 2 shows a substitution diagram of the circuit-arrangement of Fig. 1.

The amplifying circuit shown in Fig. 1 comprises the cascade of a plurality of current-amplifying transistors 1.2, 3, for example, point-contact transistors, each comprsing an emitter electrode e, a base electrode b and a collector electrode c. The base electrodes b of the transistors 1, 2 and 3 are connected to a common conductor system 45 through base resistors shown as 12. The collector electrode c of transistor 1 is connected to the emitter electrode e of transistor 2 through a signal conductor system 6 which includes a coupling capactor and the collector electrode 0 of transistor 2 is connected to the emitter electrode e of transistor 3 through a signal conductor sys tem 7 which similarly includes a coupling capacitor.

2,864,902 Pafentecl Dec. 16,-1958 According to the invention, the conductor systems 6 and 7 are interconnected to the conductor systems 4 and 5, respectively, by way of comparatively small mpedances r in accordance with the above-described proportioning instruction. On the basis of the said known circuit-ar rangement, in which the irnpedances r are high, one would expect at first sight that a decrease in the value of impedances r would lead 10 a shuntr'1g eflectdiminishing the gain of the amplifier system. However, as will appear from the calculation following hereinafter, which is confirmed by experiments, an increased current-amplification per stage is aflirmed.

In Fig. 2, the transistors 1, 2 and 3 are replaced in the usual manner by a T-connection of impedances r (emitter impedance), r (collector impedance) and r (base impedance) and voltage sources r where r indicates the transmission (mutual) mpedance and represents the current flowing to the emitter electrode e of the transistor concerned. If the current flowing to the collector electrode c of each transistor is indicated by i then the following equations result by the use of the Kirchhotf law in the loops 9 and 10 above-mentioned Equations 1 we can eliminate i and i and find When n is resolved therefrom and the quadrate of the coeflcient of n is assumed to be great with respect to the 4-fold of the product of the coeflcient of n with the constant term in the above-mentionecl equation, we find 5 wherein wherein the current-amplificat-ion factor The last term in Equation 7 is commonly negligble, since r.+r; is small with respect to r It appears now that, if r is comparatively high as is the case in the abovementioned publicaton, n=ot whereas, if according to the invention 12 is comntonly included in Series in the base circuit of each transistor, which thus remarkably has a stabilsing infiuence and the value of which is to be calculated in the value of r in the above-mentioned equations. The total value of the resistors r and r must, as before, be very small with respect to r which may be ensured by the condition that r is smaller than /5 r The circuit thus obtaind is found to be very stable.

If desired, the resstor 12 may also serve as is wellknown, to produce the bassing potential required for the emitter electrodes of the transistors such as shown in Fig. 1.

What is claimed is:

1. A multistage transistor amplifier comprisng a pluralty of transistor amplfying stages in grounded base connection, each of said stages comprising a transistor having an emitter electrode, a collector electrode and a base electrode, a first electrical conductor systerti connecting the collector electrode of a first of said transistors to the emitter electrode of the next succeeding second transistor, a second electrical conductor system connecting the base electrode of said first transistor to the base electrode of said second transistor, an impedance element connected between said first conductor system and said second conductor system, said rnpeclance element having a value defined by the equations K is a constant greater than 1.2 but less than 3,

en is the current amplificaton factor,

r is the total base impedance in ohms,

r is the total emitter impedance in ohms, and

r is the transmission impedance of the transistors in ohms.

2. A multistage transistor amplifier as claimed in claim 1, further comprising impedance elements each connected between the base electrodes of said first and second transistors in said second conductor system.

3. A multistage transistor amplifier comprising a plurality of transistor amplifying stages in grounded base connection, each of said stages comprsing a transistor having an emitter electrode, a collector electrode and a base electrode, a first electrical conductor system comprising a capacitor connecting the collector electrode of a first transistor to the emitter electrode of the next succeeding second transistor, a second electrical conductor system connecting the base electrode of said first transistor to the base electrode of said second transistor, an input signal source connected between the emitter electrode and the base electrode of the first transistor, means coupled to the collector electrode of said second transistor for deriving therefrom an amplified signal, an impedance connected between the base electrodes of said first and second transistors in said second conductor system, an impedance element connected between said first conductor system and said second conductor system, said impedance element having a value defined by the equations where:

K is a constant greater than 1.2 but less than 3,

a is the current amplification factor,

r is the total base impedance in ohms,

r, is the total emitter impedance in ohms, and

r is the transmission impedance of the transistors in ohms.

References Cited' in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENT S 2541,322 Barney Feb. 13, 1951 2,544,211 Barton Mar. 6, 1951 2,652,460 Wallace Sept. 15, 1953 

